Chris Hansen is pushing back against Hollywood’s portrayal of his career in the new A24 film, “Primetime,” saying the movie fictionalizes the work that made “To Catch a Predator” a television phenomenon.
“Nothing in that trailer except for the actor saying my name and ‘have a seat’ ever happened in real life. It’s complete fiction,” Hansen said during an interview on the “Planet Tyrus” podcast.
The A24 feature, released Friday, offers a dramatization inspired by Hansen’s hit “To Catch a Predator” investigations, including events surrounding the death of Bill Conradt, a Texas chief felony assistant district attorney who died by suicide as police arrived at his home to execute search and arrest warrants stemming from an online sting.
The film stars Robert Pattinson as Hansen, portraying the television host as he pursues greater exposure for the program while its increasingly high-stakes investigations propel him toward greater fame and, ultimately, the Conradt incident.
Hansen said the film distorts the work he and others have done to expose adults seeking to sexually exploit children, arguing that Hollywood is using his name and the popularity of the franchise to sell a fictionalized version of events.
“It’s shocking and a bit of an insult, based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer, based upon what other people have told me about the film… It’s an insult to turn something that’s been so positive and so important into a dark, over-dramatized [portrayal]…” he told Tyrus.
“It’s Hollywood twisting what happened…” he added.
Hansen said he had not seen the film at the time of the interview and had no input in its production. He said he had no issue with Pattinson, adding that he considers him a “good actor” who has been “very gracious” to him.
Instead, Hansen directed his criticism at the filmmakers and Hollywood more broadly, invoking former film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein.
“What do you expect out of an industry that was led for years by one of the most prolific predators to walk the face of the earth, Harvey Weinstein?” he asked.
To combat what he views as an inaccurate portrayal, Hansen said he purchased ad slots before showings of “Primetime,” in which he will “walk into [a] kitchen, tell everybody in the theater to have a seat” and remind them that the “real work continues every day” on his true-crime streaming service, TruBlu.
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Hansen said the 30-second ads will run on 3,500 screens nationwide during the film’s first month, which he said will allow him to use the movie’s release to direct audiences toward the work he says Hollywood misrepresented.
Meanwhile, Hansen is also preparing to tell his side of the story through a documentary titled “I’m Chris Hansen,” which he said recently finished production and is being shopped to streaming platforms. Unlike “Primetime,” Hansen said he cooperated with that project and knew the filmmakers involved.
Director Lance Oppenheim has defended his decision not to involve Hansen in the production of “Primetime.”
When asked by W Magazine why he did not consult Hansen while making the film, Oppenheim said he believed Hansen’s existing work and public record provided what he needed.
“I felt like I had everything I needed with the Cameo,” Oppenheim said, referring to a $30 personalized video Hansen recorded for him in 2024 after the director’s wife purchased it as a gift.
Oppenheim said he also read Hansen’s book and blog and spoke with Mitchell Wagenberg, a hidden-camera operator who worked with Hansen on “To Catch a Predator.”
“It almost felt like we were adapting the Internet’s version of Chris Hansen rather than the real Chris Hansen,” Oppenheim said. “You can self-mythologize all you want, but at a certain point it becomes part of culture.”
“The Odyssey wasn’t told by Odysseus. This movie shouldn’t be told by Chris Hansen. It should be told by the fans of Chris Hansen, which is us,” he added.
